


Heartbeats

by orphan_account



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-18 05:30:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16988922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: And yeah, Ryuji can’t think of many other ways to help, but it’s frustrating that all either of them can think to offer half the time is a hug, or a kiss, or a damn pat on the back. Even with Akira as touch starved as he is; even with all the excuses he finds to touch them back; even with nights like these, it still doesn’t feel like enough.





	Heartbeats

It takes Ann jabbing her elbow at Ryuji’s face like the world’s pointiest magnet for him to realize anything is wrong.

The Akira shaped buffer separating him from a broken nose is nowhere to be found, and a stray pillow tossed between them is the only evidence it was even there in the first place. Ryuji drops his arm off the edge of the bed, reaches over for his phone to check the time. It falls off the shelf and clatters somewhere underneath Akira’s bed. Okay then. Dark. That’s what time it is: it’s dark o’clock, and Akira is gone. Without either of them noticing. He’s only ever that quiet when something’s bothering him.

Ryuji sighs so loud it may as well be a groan, and he drags a hand down his face. Another elbow comes flying in just as he grumbles his way into sitting. He at least manages to catch this one. “Ann.”

She only mumbles something Ryuji knows he’s too tired to make out and hugs herself tight around the not-Akira pillow.

“ _Ann._ Gotta find Akira,” He whispers again, voice just a bit louder as he brushes a thumb over her cheek. The next elbow manages to clip him in the side.

“ _Mnmy food,_ ” Rumbles its way out through the dark. “Go get your own…”

“Oh. ‘Course these are nightmare elbows. You two can’t ever make this easy on me.”

He gets out of bed to fumble around for his clothes, hoping both that the noise will get Ann to wake up and that the distance will keep him safe from another surprise attack. The plan works, sort of. Ann wakes up when he’s managed to find a pair of jeans that he’s _pretty_ sure are his, but he trips over what he’s _pretty_ sure is Ann’s bra the second he gets them on and buttoned. It’s a miracle he doesn’t faceplant into the floor.

Ann snorts from somewhere in the direction of the bed. “Nerd.”

“Dork,” He shoots back like it’s a greeting. “C’mon, ’s go find him.”

He doesn’t bother waiting for an answer, just slips on his shirt and heads for the general direction that the stairs probably are. Before he finds them though, he can hear the bed dipping, and Ann’s voice pulls him back. “Yuji, have you seen my shirt?”

“By the couch,” He says. Maybe the stairs are further to the left.

The shake of her head feels almost audible. It isn’t, but he knows her well enough that at least one of his senses picks up the slack his eyes aren’t carrying. “Nono, that’s one of Aki’s. I’m sure you remember, doof, where is it?”

“Well I tripped over _somethin’_ right next to the plant.”

“That’s not it either. C’moooon, help me.”

“What.” A laugh chokes itself off in his throat. How is he even meant to respond to that? Just grab another one. It’s not like Akira would care. “Do you even need it?”

Barely audible footsteps pad through the back of the room once or twice in the following silence. Whether Ann has just gone back to looking or is trying to come up with some incredibly creative way to call him an idiot isn’t quite clear until she finally sighs out a “Perv time’s done Yuji, just help me find it.”

Ryuji blinks slowly, more for his own benefit than anything, given that he still can’t see his own hands in front of his face.

“No! What! All I mean’s we’re just goin down there to talk. The blinds’re gonna be shut, n’ probably no one’s awake to see anyway. I’ll close ‘em if they aren’t.”

A burst of scratchy, breathless laughter drifts its way up from the cafe about halfway through that answer. “I can hear both of you, you know,” The voice calls up after itself. “Getting _really_ hard to keep moping with you two acting like that.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Ryuji apologizes, more on instinct than anything. “Wait no, hey dude have you seen – ”

“Ann, your shirt’s on the desk.”

“Thanks babe! Be down in a sec!”

The first thing Ryuji sees once they’ve both made it downstairs _mostly_ injury free, is Akira sitting hunched over at their booth. He’s lit by the harsh light of his phone screen in one hand and holding a half empty pot of coffee in the other. Ann sighs, squeezes gently at Ryuji’s elbow, and for a moment it almost feels like they’re back in the Metaverse. Or, at least, they’re moving together as effortlessly as they did back then. Helping Akira deal with himself after everything he’s done for them is hardly a death-defying stunt, but that doesn’t stop Ryuji from leaping over the back of the bench to climb into the corner seat at his side.

He takes Akira’s phone and shoves it into his own pockets before he can argue back. Ann plucks the coffee from Akira’s grip with a stern “No,” and leaves that thought unfinished until she’s over at the sink, dumping the rest down the drain. “No. No, no. No caffeine. It’s ass o’clock in the morning, Akira. No.”

No one says anything else until Ann makes her way back over and wraps as much of herself around Akira’s side as she can manage; her head is tucked into the crook of his neck and she even throws her legs across both of their laps. Akira seems to take that as easily as everything else, because like the last domino in that line, he drops his head against Ryuji’s shoulder.

“There,” Ann puffs out her cheeks, “Now you’re trapped. Got both my boys trapped, and _one_ of them isn’t leaving until he talks to us.”

He doesn’t answer, but Ryuji gets a flash of an idea before they have a chance to fall back into silence. “Leavin’ us alone in bed is startin’ to become a whole thing. I could just bring out a spray bottle next time.”

“Can’t believe it, tossed us aside like yesterday’s coffee.” Ann jumps in without missing a beat.

“Stole our hearts ‘n threw ‘em back in our faces.”

“Didn’t even bother making us calling cards…”

Akira snorts before they can say anything else, and Ryuji shares a smile with Ann over the back of his shoulders as he falls just a bit forward, no doubt trying to figure out how to explain himself.

“Alright, alright,” He says, that smile still on his lips and that laughter still in his words, “You win.”

Ryuji brings his hand to Akira’s back and rubs soothing shapes just between his shoulder blades. “We’re here for you, man. Just tell us what’s up.”

“I’m just, uh…” That smile fades from Akira’s face, but he doesn’t flinch away from either of them. “It’s a little hard to believe I’m really back, sometimes. I had a nightmare. Thought I was still locked up for a minute or two. Thought I was still with my parents for another.”

Ann presses a kiss just above Akira’s collar. And it helps, Akira sighs out some of the tension running through him. And yeah, Ryuji can’t think of many other ways to help, but it’s frustrating that all either of them can think to offer half the time is a hug, or a kiss, or a damn pat on the back. Even with Akira as touch starved as he is; even with all the excuses he finds to touch them back; even with nights like these, it still doesn’t feel like enough.

Ryuji’s never been good at helping people like Akira.

Akira can cut straight to the core of a problem in a single sentence. It’s a little scary, honestly, how observant he is. It’s never stopped Ryuji from trying to match up to that, but those attempts don’t make it hurt any less to know he’ll never get there. Akira always knows exactly what’s bothering you and exactly how to fix it, and all Ryuji has is old stories about happier times and the ability to fit Akira against him like they were made for each other. He’s pretty confident he’d be able to get Akira talking about those first few days together when it just the three of them, but it hurts, knowing that’s all he has to give. Akira deserves something more, after everything he’s gone through for their sakes.

…Then again, maybe it's enough. “You r’member when we went to the bathhouse across the street?”

“Yeah?” Akira says, tilting his head just enough that Ann doesn’t fall away.

“Think we could sneak in there?”

Ann interrupts before he can get an answer. “No more horny tonight, Ryuji. Too sleepy.”

“Besides, no.” Akira adds.

“No no, not like that,” Comes Ryuji’s stumbling attempt at salvaging the question. “A warm bath sounds nice is all, ‘n this guy could probably use one more than anyone.”

“Yeah, no.” Akira says again. Ryuji scratches at the back of his neck and waits to see if anything else is coming, because this wasn’t really where he expected his idea to go. “Wait until later tomorrow. I can probably convince them to close up early, and that way Ryuji can have his second round of horny.”

“I’m tellin’ you, I’m not – ”

Ann angles her head up to meet Akira’s eyes, and god, they’re not even paying attention to him anymore. “Well, that does sound nice. I didn’t get to join you two last time…”

“Guys – ”

The next interruption comes from Akira, so Ryuji gives up entirely and huffs out a breath he figures will get ignored as easily as everything else. He slouches back into his seat when Akira looks his way.

“Let’s just stay in until then, if it’s alright with both of you. Go back to sleep or watch some movies or something.” Akira says. So he doesn’t want to talk about it, but he’s not above accepting their help. It’s a start.

Suddenly both of them are looking at him, which, okay sure, _now_ they care what he has to say. This whole thing really got away from him.

“…’s long as you agree to stop stressing yourself out. No way was that coffee helpin’.”

So they make their way back to the attic, and Ryuji isn’t quite sure _when_ Akira and Ann fell asleep during the terrible romantic comedy they both insisted on watching, but what’s important is that they did. He worms his way free from both pair of arms and both pairs of hands to turn off the TV. And it doesn’t really matter, then, if he pauses a bit when he gets there, or if he takes in the sight of those two pulling each other closer now that he's up, because neither of them are awake to see him being so corny. If this is enough for Akira, then that’s what matters.

He hits the power button.


End file.
